Chinese smartphone maker Oppo shipped 50 million smartphones in 2015, exceeding expectations with 67 percent year over year growth. It’s part of a wider reshuffle in China’s smartphone market that saw Xiaomi fall from grace and Huawei take top spot as the country’s largest vendor by shipments.
Xiaomi sold just over 70 million, falling well short of their 80 million low-end goal. Huawei broke 100 million with a diversified strategy targeting high-end users with the Mate S. Oppo’s global market share now stands at 3.8% as of the beginning of 2016, compared to Huawei’s 8.4%, Xiaomi’s 5.6% and LG’s 5.3%, according to a report released this month by market research firm TrendForce.
Oppo’s sales projected them into the top ten global smartphone brands, ranking eighth despite an increasingly saturated Chinese market. The company has followed other vendors into neighboring Asian markets including Vietnam, where they claim to be the second largest vendor in offline sales.
Oppo has also invested heavily in an India expansion, entering into an agreement with Foxconn to manufacture phones in India, as well as a marketing partnership with the International Cricket Council (ICC). In a release on Tuesday the company said they plan on 60 percent growth in non-Chinese markets, buoyed by “a planned sales increase of 300 percent by the end of the year” in India.
Samsung’s grip on global sales slipped in 2015, falling to 24.8% from 27.8% in 2014, leaving breathing room for smaller Chinese Android OEMs looking to crack the market. Lenovo’s share also slid sharply from 7.9% to 5.4% in 2015 following their acquisition of Motorolla.
Oppo claims their success on the Chinese mainland was due in part to the marketing of their fast-charge feature.